PROPHETS. 



267 



prophets were flourishing at Jericho, Gilgal, Bethel, 

 and doubtless other places. Very likely most of the 

 numerous prophets were so only in the sense of being 

 members of tnese organizations. At this time, also, 

 we find mention made of great numbers of false 

 prophets who prophesy in the name of Jehovah (1 

 Kings xxii.), whether we regard these as mere pre- 

 tenders or in some other light. The next group is 

 that of which Isaiah is the chief figure, including 

 Jonah, probably Joel and Obadiah, Amos, Hosea, 

 the Zcchariah named in 2 Chron. xxyi. 5, Isaiah, 

 the Oded named in 2 Chron. xxviii. 9, Micah, Nahum. 

 Throughout this period true prophets are spoken of as 

 numerous, and false prophets as equally so. (To find 

 instances use Concordance.) The next group includes 

 the Palestinian prophets of the time of Jeremiah. 

 Besides him, we have some account of Habakkuk, 

 Zephaniiih, I'riah (Jer. xxvi. 20-23), and Huldah 

 (L' Chron. xxxiv. 22). Prophets, both true and false. 

 are still numerous. Of false prophets, Ahab. Hananiah, 

 and Shemaiah are mentioned by name, with some de- 

 tails (Jer. xxix. 21 ; xxviii. 10 ; xxix. 8, 24). Still 

 another group is that of the prophets of the exile in 

 Bab} -Ionia. Of these Daniel and Ezekiel are the 

 prominent ones. False prophets are numerous, both 

 male and female, and possibly true prophets also. A 

 final group is that of the post-exilic prophets. To this 

 group belong Haggai, Zechariah. and Malaclii. and. by 

 fair implication, Kzra and Nehemiah are to be regarded 

 as prophetic men. The existence of other prophets is 

 referred to, with false prophets among them (Zeeh. 

 vii. 3; viii. 9; Xeh. vi. 7, 14). The Jewish traditions 

 concerning the men of the Great Synairo;.'ue affirm that 

 many of these men were prophets. With the death 

 of Malacbi the succession of prophets is held by Jew- 

 ish tradition to have cvased (1 Mac. ix. 27; iv. 40; 

 xiv. 41 : Josephns Cunt. An. i. 8). 



III. The character and functions of a prophet are 

 briefly outlined in such passages as Ex. vii. 1 ; Num. 

 xii. ', ; I Sam. iii. 20, 21 ; IVut. xviii. He is simply a 

 citizen (" of thy brethren, like unto me ") who speaks 

 for .Jehovah in a special message given him for the 

 purpose. IIo differs from the practitioners of magic 

 arts in that he has genuine communications with the 

 invi.-ible world, through the word of Jehovah, revealed 

 to him. He differs from the Levitical priest, in that 

 his message is special, and not a matter of regular 

 routine. The simplicity of the Old Testament state- 

 ment* concerning the prophets is quite remarkable. 

 The prophets did and saw wonderful things, but so far 

 us they themselves are concerned, the elements of mys- 

 tery and marvel are conspicuously absent, except as 

 tin-Be have been interpreted into the Old Testament 

 accounts from other sources. 



Tlie l'/-i-xniinl Aj'/ii'ii-iiiice of the Prophet*. Our 

 most current picture of a prophet is one for which 

 some ecclesiastic or monk sat as a model, the artist 

 modifying the picture, according to his fancy, by ele- 

 ments cooled from the Greek oracle priests, or from 

 Ivi.-tern den -i lies. Hut we may as well start by re- 

 iiiimlinL' ourselves that in part the picture is contrary 

 to (lie facts, and in part the facts are unknown. It is 

 customary to infer from Zech. xiii. 4, Isa. xx. 2, 3, 1 

 Sam. xxviii. 14, 1 Kings xix. 13, that the prophets as a 

 cl.i-s wore a peculiar garb to distinguish them from 

 other people; but the passages do not justify the in- 

 ference. ;in,| the contrary is fairly to be inferred from 

 1 Sam. ix. IS, 2 Kings i. 7, 8, ch: On the strength of 

 1 Sam. xviii. 10, xix. 19-24, Jer. xxix. 26, arid like 

 passages, it is frequently alleged that frenzied utter- 

 ance was characteristic of the prophets, and indeed 

 that this is the radical idea of the word "prophet" 

 itself. Hut the assertion that Jeremiah raved is men- 

 tioned as a slander, and not as a fact. Saul acted like 

 a cray.y man when the spirit of prophecy came upon 

 him at Ramah. but he acted so because he was crazy 

 nt .the tini" : the passage docs not say nor necessarily 

 imply that any one. but Saul acted so. In 1 Sam. xviii. 



10, Saul's raving is called "prophesying;" but this 

 may be not because prophesying is thought of as a 

 species of raving, but because Saul, when he raved, 

 talked religiously, like a prophet. Ordinarily, the 

 words and deeds of the prophets, even those that are 

 strangest, or most impassioned, are marked by very 

 clear, self-contained common sense. It is safest to think 

 of a prophet as having the dress, the appearance, and 

 the habits of an ordinary citizen, except in the in- 

 stances where particular prophets, for particular pur- 

 poses, are described as dressing or acting otherwise. 



The Prophetic Sdwols. The term "school." as 

 thus applied, is not Biblical, but is convenient. The 

 evidence does not show to what extent the organiza- 

 tions of Samuel's time (I Sam. x.-xix.) resembled 

 those of the times of Elijah and Elisha (see especially 

 1 Kings xx. 35-41;2Kingsii.-ix.), but it is a natural con- 

 jecture that they were much alike. From 2 Kings v. 22, 

 ix. 1, 4, it is natural to infer that the members of these 

 organizations were mostly young men. That married 

 men were included among them appears from 2 Kings 

 iv. 1. That they were of the obscure class in society has 

 been inferred from 1 Sam. x. 11, but the inference will 

 hardly hold ; the surprise that Saul should be among 

 the prophets shows, indeed, that his reputation was 

 different from that of the others, but not necessarily 

 that he was more prominent than they ; it may just as 

 well be that he was known as less religious than they. 

 From what is sairl in the chapters referred to, it ap- 

 pears that the sons of the prophets sometimes lived 

 together in common residences, that contributions for 

 their support were sometimes made by citizens, that 

 they were accustomed to organized action for their own 

 comfort, and for other purposes, that they took their 

 part in national polities, that they cultivated music, 

 that they sometimes held out-of-door religious services 

 (I Sam. x.), that they had certain exercises in con- 

 certed prophesying of some sort (1 Sam. xix.). 

 Whether these were schools or not, they were not 

 mere schools, but organizations for public work and 

 influence. Whether they had anything like a course, 

 of study and training we are not informed. As wo 

 have seen, their members were sometimes called 

 prophets, but it by no means follows that most or all 

 of them regularly became endowed with prophetic 

 gifts. That some of them became so endowed is prob- 

 able ; and it is also probable that the name " prophet " 

 would come to be applied to them, in general, whether 

 they had the gilt, or not. 



The i^ii-odlnl I'l-n/Jielic Order. It is probable that 

 the prophet! were an unbroken succession, in the sense 

 that from Malaclii back to Samuel, and earlier, Israel 

 was never wholly without living prophets of Jehovah. 

 But in addition to this a great deal is said about the 

 prophetic order, as if the prophetic body had an 

 organic character, like that of the priests, or was per- 

 petuated by some ordaining act. like the ministry in the 

 Christian churches. It is true that some priests were 

 prophets or prophetic men, Zadok, Jeremiah, and 

 Ezra, for example; it is also true that a prophet, not 

 of the priesthood, might be commissioned to perform 

 priestly acts, Moses for example, I-iev. viii. 15- .'50; but 

 there is no trace of any priestly functions regularly 

 exercised by the prophets, as prophets, nor of any prop- 

 erly prophetic functionsregularly exercise* I by the priests 

 as such. In this the religion of Israel differed notably 

 from certain other ancient religions. The only alleged 

 instance of anything like ordination is the setting apart 

 of Elisha, 1 Kings xix. 15, lf>, 19;cf. 2 Kings ix. 1-13. 

 But Elisha's case is evidently exceptional, like the par- 

 allel cases of Jehu and Hazael. He was not set apart 

 to be a prophet, but to do certain especial work as a 

 prophet. 



In fine, a prophet became such, so far as appears, 

 solely by Incoming endowed with prophetic gifts ; he 

 came to be recognized as a prophet by its being per- 

 ceived that he had the gifts (l)eut. xviii. 21, 22; xiii. 

 1-5), aud not ordinarily through his costume or per- 



